Reunited
by SlvrSoleAlchmst1
Summary: [Hinted shounen ai: Yzak x Athrun. Oneshot] After two years apart, Yzak comes face to face with Athrun Zala once more when he ends up his escort for the day. At the graveyard, he asks Athrun to come back home. [Destiny timeline]


_A/N: Oh how I love Destiny. I'm on episode 13 now, but episode 11 obviously drove me mad with all the Yzak action, and I had to expand on that graveyard scene. I'd thought of doing a Dea/Yza piece, but I felt that Athrun had a larger significance there. Asu/Yza is my favorite pairing after all, and episode 11 just set itself up for it so perfectly… Like I was gonna resist. xP _

"YOU BASTARD!" I seized him by the collar and forced my way inside the room, hollering into his face with all my military pride. Why was it _my_ job to be his escort? Why did _I_ have to leave the front lines? I screamed in his face about duty and business and time restraints, until he forced me away with that look that said I'd crossed some sort of line.

I couldn't have helped myself if I'd tried.

Dearka was waiting smugly, just inside the door. I guess he knew better than to try to stop me in the middle of one of my rampages. He observed the two of us calmly, Athrun and I, while I demanded to know what was going on. God damn it, why did I have to get orders that brought me close to _Athrun Zala_ again? All the same, something inside my chest tightened, and when the blue haired ex-pilot greeted Dearka calmly and with a hint of a pleasant surprise, I wondered why he hadn't done the same for me.

Then again, I did try to throttle him.

I somehow managed to compose myself. Despite the circumstances, I was under more control then I'd thought. Initial outburst aside, the urge to strangle my once-commander had fled, and though my chest resembled a cage of fluttering wings being crushed by anxiety, I waited. I waited for Athrun to simply… be Athrun. After all, I hadn't laid eyes on his him for two years. It struck me suddenly that he was taller.

Dearka was still talking with him. I avoided all threats of eye contact and focused on the wall, determined not to stare at the creature I'd hated for a good chunk of my lifespan. Then, in astonishment, he spoke, and his voice was laced with the smooth tone of calm, the sound of cool reason that I'd so often heard in battle.

"I never thought… you two guys?"

I snorted in contempt and faced him. "Yes, us!" Then I had to look away – those green eyes were just as potent and stunning as they'd always been, and I couldn't risk holding that enchanting gaze.

We made our way to the elevator, where I folded my arms and frowned. Where would Athrun lead us? I was surprised to find myself in a state of mild curiosity, wondering what the quiet male did in his spare time.

"It looks like whoever put us together knew what they were doing," observed Dearka shrewdly.

I knew the blonde had realized it long ago like we all had, but none of us dared speak aloud our guesses as to the cause of our meeting. Was it destiny that we'd ended up together once more, or mere coincidence? My brow only darkened. I didn't have time to ponder such pathetic, childish notions. What mattered was that we'd been reunited.

Then Athrun's face flickered with the slight ghost of some realization, and I wanted more than ever to know what he was thinking. The elevator doors slid seamlessly open, so instead I focused on subduing my pounding heart as we stepped out.

"So, where do you wanna go?" Dearka asked, a mischievous grin from the past sneaking onto his tanned features. It was something I rarely saw those days. Dearka had since matured. We all had.

I fixed Athrun with a dangerous glower. "And if you say shopping, I'm gonna _kill_ you."

The object of my intrigue frowned, vaguely annoyed. "Not even close." Then he told me that he wanted to visit the graves of Nicol and the others.

My heart folded in on itself. Had he been simmering in the guilt of their losses all this time, as if it were a scar that would never fade? I resisted the urge to trace with my slim fingers the spot where my own scar had once disfigured. Even _I_ had been able to let go. When would the former Aegis pilot cease to blame himself for the deaths of his comrades?

I began to form his name with my lips, but I stopped, and the unspoken words tingled on my tongue. I wanted to tell him that nothing had really ever been his fault, but I held my silence. _I_ had been the one always blaming him, for Nicol's death especially._ I_ had tossed him recklessly into the lockers that day, yelled until I was hoarse and tears had collected in my icy eyes, forced the burden onto him. God, had I really done all those things?

If I could take them back, I would. I know better now.

The graveyard was a quiet mass of headstones, lined up in neat rows like so many ranks of willing soldiers. Nicol's grave was last, and my arm felt like a leaden block as I raised my hand in a stiff salute. Athrun's green eyes were locked on the smooth letters etched into the stone's surface, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. And suddenly I knew what I had to do. I had to make up for what I'd done in the past.

My heart fluttered. I wanted Athrun with us, back with ZAFT. I recalled the fight with the terrorists at the remnants of Junius Seven, when he'd come flying out in his Zaku. His voice had crackled over the radio, leaving Dearka and I dumbstruck. Was it really Athrun? Athrun Zala? I remembered how I'd strained to keep from collapsing in relief that day. He was still alive and well, and he was fighting beside us, like he had those two long years before. I'd been too much of a fool to admit anything then, but now I knew for sure.

"What are you doing with Orb, anyway?" I shot at him rather roughly. "What are you doing all the way out here? And what are Orb's plans?" My insides were seething, but whether it was with resentment or with some other sensation I still don't know. My head hurt. I wanted to do something; I wanted to fix what I'd helped to break.

Athrun frowned, the lines on his forehead creasing slightly. "I don't know yet."

I watched him, I searched his face for any sign of emotion. He wouldn't meet my probing gaze. At once the thought of his green pearls meeting my blue ones sent a nerve-wracking tingle through my limbs, so I averted my eyes as well, cursing my inability to speak my mind from the start. How could I make him understand me?

"Come back to us Athrun." The words had escaped my trembling lips before I'd had a chance to think. I couldn't breath.

The tiniest of gasps escaped him, and he raised his head. What was he feeling? Was his chest aching like mine was?

"I… I'm sure there'll be some obstacles, but I'll take care of them." My voice caught in my throat, but I forced out my plea nonetheless. "You can come back to the PLANTs, Athrun."

His first name rolled off my tongue so pleasantly. Why had it taken me two years to address him as such? I had always called him by his last name, spitting it out as if it were poison. _Zala_. I'd hated him, yet suddenly I realized those feelings were gone. Maybe they had been for a long time. Now he was Athrun, just Athrun, and I wanted him back.

I mustered the courage to meet his skeptical stare when he looked at me. A bolt of feeling rocketed through my veins. Those green eyes studied me, judged me.

For an instant, I was afraid that he wouldn't trust me, and I struggled to keep myself from hollering. I wanted to hit him, yell in his face, tell him how much we needed him and make him see why he should be back at the PLANTs, but I refrained. Had it been that same violent approach that had caused him to become wary of me years ago?

He faltered, considering my bold proposition. "Yeah… but I just…"

My voice was uncharacteristically soft as I cut in. "Dearka and I… we probably should have died a long time ago."

I felt Dearka watching me. Could he tell that I was at a loss? Could he feel that it was hell for me just to keep breathing? I wanted to hurl myself at the blue-haired soldier, fling my arms around him and make him listen. I wondered vaguely if Dearka would be quick enough to stop me if I tried.

Athrun glanced at the blonde, then at me again. And this time, it wasn't suspicion that his green eyes conveyed, but something deeper that I couldn't read. For a moment I felt it might have been pity, and I grew hot with rage at the notion. But it wasn't pity, nor regret, nor uncertainty… perhaps a mix of all those things? I bit my lower lip. Had I helped to turn Athrun Zala into this weakened, unsure, tortured being? I half wished I could swap places with the deceased Blitz pilot beneath our feet.

Then the words of Chairman Dullindal rose to the forefront of my mind. I spoke them aloud, while Dearka and Athrun both listened. Dearka knew how I felt. After all, he felt the same – it was the reason that he'd stayed by my side. If Athrun would come with us too, if he could just see from our eyes for even an instant… He could return. He could fight again. He could have a purpose and seek answers and heal whatever wounds I or anyone else had caused him.

"That's why I still wear a military uniform," I finished. "It's the only thing I know, but it's also because I think I can make a difference."

Athrun seemed about to break. "Yzak…"

I felt warm as he spoke my name, but I would not waver. "That's why you have to do something too." The blue-haired male didn't look pleased with me, but I only frowned and pressed harder. "You have the ability! Why not put it to use?"

I knew I was right. And even if he didn't listen, I had done my part. Relief washed over me like cool rain, and Athrun turned his back.

I wasn't sure if I'd gotten through to him. I wasn't sure if he'd even understand my sentiments, or why I'd needed him to hear me out, or why I wanted him back on our side. I didn't know if I'd done it for justice or for ZAFT or for my own selfish lust for redemption, but it was done. I allowed myself a moment to absorb the vision of his slender figure, the steadiness of his stance despite his hesitation. Maybe one day soon I'd see him again, strong like he used to be, but for now…

It was just a miracle that we'd been reunited.

_A/N: Hmm… I wonder how this turned out? Feels so foreign to me. It was difficult because Yzak has changed quite a bit in Destiny, and writing him as someone two years older makes him feel completely different._


End file.
